Lucerne the Beheader
by Witcher Aether
Summary: The aged exile knight, Lucerne of Balder, known by some as Lucerne the Beheader, travels to the ruins of Lothric in search of absolution for his crimes. Common weapons used: Ultra greatswords, spiked morning stars, bows and pickaxes, hobnailed maul hammers, kukris, katanas, duel blades, great axes, cleavers, dark steel spears, halberds, and pitchforks.
1. Prologue

**LUCERNE THE BEHEADER**

This is the first piece of a 20-chapter series. The tales involve the aged exile knight, Lucerne of Balder, known by some as Lucerne the Beheader, who has travelled to the ruins of Lothric in search of absolution for his crimes. Our hero is a Multiweapons user, meaning he is skilled at using a variety of armaments, changing frequently to catch his enemies off-guard. Ultra greatswords, spiked morning stars, bows and pickaxes, hobnailed maul hammers, kukris, katanas, duel blades, great axes, cleavers, dark steel spears, halberds, and pitchforks are common in the Multiweapon ethos.

I'm separating the chapters based on each level of the game. Thank you for reading!

 **-Prologue-**

Lucerne was the old headsman of the Balderian Kingdom before its downfall. A man of considerable strength and size, the executioner's ruthless nature earned him favor with King Rendal II, who would later become known as the Mercykilling King. Rendal's father, the well-loved Knight King Rendal, disappeared with his men long ago on their daring journey to Lordran, a land ruled by hollows - and in doing so, left his eldest son to rule. A fierce, paranoid monarch, fond of torture and public executions, King Rendal II - in an attempt to halt the spread of the undead curse threatening to overtake his kingdom - sentenced scores of innocent bearers of the curse to death without trial (decapitation was deemed necessary by the scholars of the time, as it was believed to be the most effective means of halting the spread of the undead plague). Writs of execution were signed daily, and thus the Balder Headsman earned a sinister reputation throughout the kingdom. In those days, peasants and lords alike would tell tales of 'Lucerne the Beheader,' and accounts of his savage, crown-ordered killings spread quickly throughout the realm.

One evening, a brawl erupted inside the headsman's favorite tavern, a fleapit shack named The Wolf and the Huntsman. Lucerne accidentally struck the innocent son of a well-known merchant, a nine-year-old boy named Errik Forray, killing the child in a single blow. Lucerne's favor to the crown served him well, and his life was spared. He was granted clemency as an Outrider Knight, a permanent exile. He left the kingdom of Balder and never returned.

Lucerne wandered the lands for many years, offering his axe to various armies and clerics. He spent many years in Carim, where he learned the art of Multiweapons. Inevitably he would become cursed himself, doomed to wander the earth as a witless hollow. In the end, it was an old woman's guidance that saved his sanity. That terrifying lady, the old witch in the faded red mantle, who would lead him on his final journey. "You must seek pilgrimage," she said. "To Lothric. The transitory lands where the souls of lords converge. Yes, indeed. It is called Lothric ...

It is there you will find your redemption.

And so it is, that ash seeketh embers."

Videos accompanying the stories can be watched here:

playlist?list=PLzW0gIULFufV9z9wKCeHY4s5oUTiZdCge

Thanks!  
-WitcherA


	2. The High Wall of Lothric

**-1-**

 **The High Wall of Lothric**

After touching the bonfire's flame, Lucerne is transported to a city hidden in the heights of a lofty High Wall, a burg razed to ashes by an ancient calamity. The old city is now ruled by a black-winged dragon. The creature stands guard above the worn battlements, breathing its white-hot flame, while gangs of undead warriors and armored knights prowl the streets below. Strange, thinks Lucerne, that even in death these shambling clods still fight to save their city.

The old headsman finds a hidden alcove in the shadowy undercroft beneath a dragon's motionless corpse. Inside he hears a moan whispered from behind a stack of old, dusty crates, no other sounds but the wind rustling past the iron bars. The headsman moves to investigate when an undead warrior slashes through the boxes with its dark longsword, scattering wood and nails across the floor. Lucerne rolls to avoid a blow aimed at his head. He pivots and swings his massive battle axe, a diagonal slice across the creature's armored torso. As the hollow reels back in a howl of pain, a second undead emerges from the shadows of the far wall, swinging its broadsword in short, frenzied arcs. Lucerne counter-strikes with his axe. The crescent blade of his weapon cuts through the meat of his attacker's arm, splattering Lucerne's armor in sweet-smelling blood. A song plays through the executioner's head as the second undead rushes forward like a feral wolf, but Lucerne is swifter; he unleashes an offhanded strike with his unsheathed scimitar. The blow rings off the undead's steel helm. His arm numb with pain, Lucerne shudders as the second creature stabs him through the hip, parting his chainmail like butter. Pinned between them, Lucerne is hacked to pieces … but a quick swig of Estus heals his wounds. Enraged from pain and blood, the headsman back-steps and makes a vicious slanting cut with his battle axe, felling both foes in a single strike.  
YOU DEFEATED 

-WEAPONS WIELDED-

Firebomb  
Battle Axe  
Scimitar  
Halberd  
Torch  
Astora Straight Sword  
Broadsword  
Rapier  
Longbow  
Lucerne


	3. A Green Glow Settles Over The Dead

**A Green Glow Settles Over The Dead**

Lucerne welcomes the warm air of an early evening as he approaches the undead settlement at the base of the high wall. The headsman wonders at the horrors that have transpired here beneath the green-shaded sky, which is stretched and worn like an old, leather-bound book. He feels the presence of an ancient power trapped in some distant tomb as he passes through the dark, rotten homes and gardens. Inside the structures, tree-like growths sprout from the heads of the chair-ridden dead, the branches twisting like strange antlers. I will not become a tree. This is a truth Lucerne accepts all too quickly.

Among the yard of kneeling farmers, a lone figure rises before a great oak tree engulfed in a raging fire. Tangled amongst the branches are the hanged corpses of the condemned, perhaps judged for their fates or for their follies, regardless they sway together like dead chains and ribbons now, their nooses smoldering and snapping from the hot, licking flames.

The grotesquely shaped figure at the base of the tree seems to be the leader of some lost congregation. Clad in its evangelical vestments, a clown-like mask conceals its features beneath a wide-brimmed hat. Struck with a peculiar feeling of revulsion, Lucerne lunges forward with his battle axe and brings the weapon down hard, but the blow is deflected by the studded iron breastplate hidden beneath the hollow's holy uniform. The looming undead moves to grab Lucerne, who quickly dodges off, but the creature's long strides close the distance with ease. Its weapon is a vicious instrument, a pole-armed mace with a head lined with spikes, no doubt intended to strike fear into the hearts of the profane.

The undead swings its huge weapon in a brutal, vertical arc. Lucerne raises his metal kite shield to meet the blow. The pointed head of the weapon slams against the center of his shield and sends Lucerne reeling backward. "Poor child," the creature weeps in its grating, feminine tone. "Come to me." Fingering through its tome of spells, the billowing sleeves of its garments catch flame. A raging fire engulfs the hollow. It lunges for Lucerne, who leaps back again, the heat of the undead sorcery scorching the hairs on his face.

As the flames surrounding the creature slowly die, the headsman positions his axe behind him and brings it up and over his head. His weapon smashes against the hollow's smoldering breastplate, fissuring the iron plates like cracked clay. The foe responds with an overhead swing of its own. Lucerne mistimes his shield raise; the blow clips the rim of his guard and sends him reeling, trapping him against the bark of a tree. He quickly dances around his opponent, making quick, glancing strikes with his axe, focusing on the weak points of his enemy's armor. Weakened and dazed, the clown swings its grimoire of spells at Lucerne like a flimsy mace. It flips the dark tome open again to select a spell. There's your mistake, Lucerne grins. His axe blade soars through the air and digs into the rent he had opened in the hollow's breastplate. The cutting edge digs deep into the rotten flesh of the beast. The undead releases a long, guttural moaning as it topples to the ground like a fallen tree.  
YOU DEFEATED

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Hand Axe  
Battle Axe  
Great Machete  
Mace  
Lucerne  
Longbow  
Torch  
Broadsword  
Great Scythe  
Uchigatana  
Partizan  
Red Hilted Halberd  
Wargod Wooden Shield  
Kite Shield


	4. The Undead Forest

**The Undead Forest**

A foul stench flares the Outrider Knight's nostrils. The reeking odor of trees and putrefied flora accompanies the headsman as he traverses the outskirts of the accursed Crucifixion Woods. The forest is aptly named, for it contains the ancient, decayed beams, old blood, and knolls of bone. Crucifixes are left standing like fetishes of magical potency, formed out of crude wooden planks, crawling with moss and fungus, and shaped in the timeworn symbol of the Darkmoon. Red-eyed beasts with hideous claws patrol the rank shallows, warring for space with the old, hollowed hunters, a forgotten legion of ancient guards who faithfully protect their land, wielding long, sharpened stakes cut from truncated logs and greatwoods.

At the end of the bog lies an old, abandoned fort, the remnants of a long lost castle. Lucerne studies a tall figure standing in the center of a long, open hallway, its sinewy form clad in pitch-ebony armor. The hollow's elongated head is encased completely within its black steel helm, with twin upright horns fastened at the apex. In an instant the warriors rush head on. Lucerne brandishes his enchanted straight sword of Irithyll make, a long blade imbued with frost. The black-armored knight wields an ultra greatsword. The weapon's point slams against the headsman's cuirass with the force of a battering ram, sending Lucerne sprawling to the floor. He jumps to his feet in time to avoid a rising lunge. The warriors trade blows again and again with their weapons. The exiled executioner howls in pain as the ultra sword bites through his leather armor.

If the hollowed knight has tired from its relentless attacking, it shows no sign of it; and so the old executioner realizes he is losing this battle. He takes off down the ruined hall with the black knight close on his heels. The foe is quick, swinging its greatsword in swift, persistent arcs. Lucerne feels the wind at his spine as the blade whirls again and again through open air.

A dead end. Lucerne has barely enough time to about-face as the black knight's blade cuts deep into the steel of his pauldron. A rush of hot blood gushes from Lucerne's shoulder. His eyesight narrowing into a blackened field, Lucerne pivots and makes a blind run up a set of stone steps, dives into a small annex adjacent to the hall, and climbs a second set of steps, arriving at a landing above his enemy. Amazingly, the black knight has lost sight of its target, and does not follow. Lucerne makes use of this respite with a swift swig of Estus, and munches on his favorite treat, a minty green blossom.

Energized, the headsman inches toward the landing's banister. Fortune favor me, Lucerne thinks. He has but a moment to breathe as he trades his sword for the longbow at his back. He selects an arrow from his quiver and guides the split shaft into the nocking point of his bowstring. He takes aim. The bowstring slides against his forearm and the arrow soars toward its mark, the broadhead driving deep into the foe's armored backside. Bewildered, the creature spins and raises its greatshield, then lifts its sword, as if reading for a counter attack. Lucerne's second arrow ricochets off the thick steel bulwark of its shield. A third and fourth arrow are similarly deflected. Spying Lucerne, the black knight turns and finds the path the headsman has taken.

With a learned calmness, Lucerne slings his longbow at his back and sheaths his enchanted straight sword, unhooking his battle axe from his right hip. The knight makes a blind rush for the headsman. It throws its entire weight into a sudden, vertical blow. Lucerne dodges to the side as his enemy's sword slams into a stone pillar near the balcony's ledge, showering both fighters in sparking light. Lucerne can hardly contain his glee - the attacker has left itself wide open. Two-handing his axe, the Exile Knight swings a controlled blow, his axe digging deep into the unprotected neck of his enemy, sending gouts of blood to the floor. The hollowed warrior tries in vain to deflect a second blow and parries with a weakened raise of its shield, but Lucerne, enraged with pain and blood and hearing his song, hacks viciously at the hollow's head. He pirouettes behind the dazed creature and finishes it with a two-handed blow, relishing the dark knight's inhuman scream.  
YOU DEFEATED

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Longsword  
Longbow  
Lucerne  
Glaive  
Morion Blade  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Butcher Knife  
Exile Greatsword  
Greataxe  
Hand Axe  
Battle Axe  
Great Scythe  
Kite Shield  
Grass Crest Shield  
Dragon Crest Shield


	5. The Lost Kingdom of Farron

**The Lost Kingdom of Farron**

Lucerne's old, weary eyes take view of the setting sun. The golden orb has fallen behind a looming curtain wall. He glides his whetstone across the blade of his sword, sitting on the banks of an amaranthine mire, surrounded by slates and gables and towers, fallen long ago into the poisoned swamp, the waters tainted by the abyssal dark of mythical kingdom of Oolacil. Lucerne is no fool. He is well familiar with the tales surrounding the fallen city of magic.

So this is what's left of Farron Keep, the headsman muses. The land of the fabled Wolf Knight. It is also home to the Gru, strange, demonic creatures wielding crude shields and spears of foraged timber. Three flames opens the sealed door and the path to the castle's inner ward. Lucerne follows the ringing of steel against steel. It lures him like a siren's song. A final stronghold near the end of a wooded grove, sealed to contain a legion of undead watchmen.

-WEAPONS WEILDED-  
Battle Axe  
Bandit Axe  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Lucerne  
Grass Crest Shield


	6. Cathedral of the Deep

**Cathedral of the Deep**

The Outrider Knight pauses outside the old cathedral. A foreboding structure surrounded by valleys and yards, overrun from risen undead. Inside the church lurks a terrible history, and a mysterious item to help the headsman in his wanderings, a passkey for the mythical city of Irithyll.

With an appetite only an undead can know, Lucerne decides to feast on the sweet meat said to exist beneath a crystal lizard's scales. Even now the monstrous creature is crawling just beneath him, creeping near the base of a short drop. Crouched low on all fours, the ebony-scaled beast is the length of a cabin, its size made even larger by its barbed, serpentine tail. Spires of aquamarine gems and crystals protrude from its spine and head.

Lucerne leaps off the side of the cliff and brings his executioner's axe down with both hands. The giant blade finds its mark and slides off a flank of impenetrable crystalline armor. Still, the force has sheared-off a few crystals from the lizard's head. This sends the reptile scurrying down the dirt trail in a lurid daze. Emboldened by the hunt, Lucerne chases his prey and aims his blade at the creature's leg, hoping to weaken its mobility. The beast surprises the old knight by rising on its hind legs, lunging forward, and falling on top of him. He nearly passes out from the monstrous weight while thousands of miniature scales and crystals pierce his skin.

Sliding off him, the crystal lizard pursues Lucerne, who is fleeing in genuine terror. The lizard curls its body like a coiled, malformed insect and barrels toward the headsman, rolling past him and slamming into an earthen wall, forcing a small avalanche of dirt and rock. Lucerne ducks beneath its massive tail and starts to hammer at the creature's torso with his great axe. He turns and races back down the dirt path and moves to the side to avoid another swipe of its claws. As it rises for a second attack, Lucerne unleashes a spirited warcry, frightening the creature and sending it staggering back toward its nest. The headsman runs forth and swings his axe blade through the air. The blow lands on the lizard's hind leg.

The beast roars in pain. Desperate, it ducks lows and extends its neck for a vicious bite, its reptile teeth taking two of Lucerne's fingers. Crying out in pain, the headsman loses his grip on his weighty axe, nearly dropping it as he retreats.

The crystal lizard slowly circles the headsman, studying him like a predator eyeing its kill. It is then that Lucerne recalls the teachings of his old master, Mistress Raena of Carim, the mother of all multiweapon mythos.

"Let the weapon do the work." After all these years her words return to him, as if uttered from the wind.

Lucerne grips the handle of his executioner's axe with both hands, his injured fist throbbing painfully and spouting blood. The knight spins his weapon around him, building momentum as he coils, and with the gained momentum he raises the axe and arcs for the lizard's weakened leg. The blade cleaves through the creature's limb, severing its leg in a single cut. The crystal lizard spasms in shock, its body becoming rigid. It falls to the ground, motionless, disappearing in a cloud of ethereal souls.  
YOU DEFEATED

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Wolf Knight's Greatsword  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Notched Whip  
Battle Axe  
Great Axe  
Saint Bident  
Uchigatana  
Grass Crest Shield  
Composite Bow


	7. The Catacombs

**The Catacombs**

Deep within the Catacombs of Carthus there hangs a bridge. Beneath this bridge there is a tunnel, and through that tunnel lurks a prowling Demon of Chaos. A behemoth, the horned beast has skin of twisted rock and flesh, locked within a veil of surging flames trailing from its shoulders like demonic wings. Clutched in its monstrous talons, a flaming greataxe.

Watching Lucerne on the landing above, the chaos demon stands upright and spits a heavy stream of molten liquid. The flaming heat singes the headsman's cloak. Lucerne leaps down to face the monster head-on, but the old executioner remains standing when he perceives something strange rising from the crypt floor. The old dead bones that were scattered around the demon's feet are rising of their own will, becoming skeletal warriors wielding swords. The demon seems not to notice; it drags the cracked blade of its weapon across the floor, aiming to smash Lucerne to pieces. The headsman sidesteps and the beast rushes past him. Distracted by the rising bones, it turns its back on the undead hero.

Wielding his wolf knight greatsword, Lucerne takes advantage of the demon's blunder. He takes a wild hack at the back of its leg. A gout of liquid fire seeps from its sundered skin, as if its very blood were formed of heat and fire. The headsman's second attack is a savage strike with his left-handed battle axe. The axe blade finds nothing but air as the demon lunges into the sky with surprising grace, its feet barely missing Lucerne as it lands on the stone catacomb floor.

The exile knight retreats. Now the skeletal warriors have rallied against the demon, slashing wildly with their short swords and scimitars. Enraged, the beast roars and swings its greataxe blindly, crushing the skeletons with minimal effort. Fleeing in primal fear of the rampaging beast, the skeletons lure the demon deeper into the forgotten chamber, into a lower sanctum well below the battleground.

A quick jog and another leap is all it takes for Lucerne to rejoin the battle. The demon is still distracted - this is my best chance to slay this vile beast, Lucerne thinks as he lands hard on his feet. A dozen more of the skeletal horrors have risen, and the headsman makes a path through their congregation, ducking to avoid their errant swings. The chaos demon, still engaged with the skeletons crowding around its feet, releases a bestial roar. The force of its rage blasts apart the surrounding foes into puffs of white powder. A great flame bursts from the gaping wound in its chest, enthralling the demon in a raging inferno. With incredible speed the demon swings its greataxe again and again, smashing the skeleton army to dust, bones blasting outward from the sudden flurry of attacks.

Two-handing his greatsword, Lucerne dashes in for a few choice hits, aiming for the creature's tail. Chaos has taken hold of all senses. The remnants of the skeletal mob attack Lucerne and the demon in equal measure, only to shatter to pieces from the demon's unrelenting axe blade and Lucerne's sword. The knight breathes in hot fumes, refusing to retreat. I've come too far now, he thinks, grimacing as shards of shattered bone cut his skin. Out of the corner of its demonic eye the beast spies the small human attacking its hindquarters. The kindled demon disappears from view as it bounds upward and back down again, dropping the weight of its greataxe to the ground. The blow crushes Lucerne's skull, and then all is light.  
YOU DIED

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Deep Battle Axe  
Morning Star  
Astora Greatsword  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Composite Bow  
Torch  
Grass Crest Shield  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Kite Shield


	8. Demon Ruins

**Demon Ruins**

A greatarrow launches from the far-off ballistica and rouses Lucerne from his meditation in the shallow waters of the Smouldering Lake. The headsman leaps away from the giant, spear-sized arrow and dashes across the water. Like a moonlight butterfly lured into a spider's web, Lucerne falls through a cave-in of stone and mortar, trapping him within a treacherous labyrinth of demons. Here the tunnels of hot brimstone and rock are marred and scorched from the wild pyromancies of sinister ghru, imps, and other wielders of the demonic fire, a conjuring of magic from ages long lost. But Lucerne is no fool. He knows these old warrens are the remnants of the Occult of Fire, a ruination brought about by the dread witches of Izalith. For it is they who have beckoned the demons into this world, in their lust for the First Flame's rebirth. Who is to say, what horrors have truly been unleashed?

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Crescent Axe  
Greatsword  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Greataxe  
Battle Axe  
Composite Bow  
Morning Star  
Black Knight Sword  
Morion Blade  
Great Club  
Torch  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Grass Crest Shield  
Spiked Shield


	9. Irithyll City

**IRITHYLL CITY**

When one gazes upon the mythical city of Irithyll, they observe a grand illusion. A city of unquestionable splendor, its gables, balustrades, and cross-shaped basilicas of cerulean stone are blanketed in the ice of an unending winter, guarded on all sides by a moat of shimmering water. But the visitor soon realizes that this metropolis is simply another nest of horrors. Explorers must contend with the city's skeletal lords, flame-wielding magi, and outrider beasts. And so it goes for Lucerne of Balder, the wandering Exile Knight of disrepute.

Nearing Irithyll's highest tier, the headsman faces a gauntlet of armored knights. Fully armored in shining plate mail, they are equipped with an assortment of swords, shields, spears, and greatbows of draconic design. The steel of their armor is polished silver.

A hail of arrows hurtle past Lucerne as he runs the length of a gothic arch jutting from the cathedral's wall. The first knight stands guard atop a towering barbican, waiting behind a pillar of fluted stone. Lucerne strikes quickly with his curved greatsword and then retreats, baiting the knight toward the tower's edge. The hollowed creature wields its longsword expertly. The blade crackles with electric energy as it swings a downward arc. Lucerne moves aside to dodge the blow; he dances around the silver knight and smashes the flat of his blade against the sentry's backside. The force of the blow sends the hollow flying off the edge.

At the end of the landing waits the second archer, its back turned. Lucerne sends several arrows flying from his composite bow, aiming for weak points in the hollow's armor. The silver knight turns and lifts its own greatbow. A dragonbone arrow sails past the headsman, puncturing the cathedral's wall into clouds of dust. The old warrior realizes he is outmatched at this range and dashes across the landing with his shield raised. The silver knight's second greatarrow collides with Lucerne's shield, making him slide backward. Regaining lost ground, the headsman two-hands his massive greatsword and makes three diagonal slashes. The third strike cuts through the knight's collared gorget. A heavy flow of gore rains from the fatal blow.

Exhausted, the Balder headsman arrives at a dark alcove. A third silver knight rushes from the shadows with its longsword raised. The blade of Lucerne's curved greatsword whirls through the air and rakes across the hollow's armor. The silver knight thrusts its longsword, spearing the headsman's cape. Lucerne's counter-attack is a dazzling revolving strike that bleeds the hollow open, killing it instantly.

Compensating for his exhaustion, the old warrior sheathes his greatsword and selects a lighter weapon, a long polearm with a spiked head. And not a moment too soon, as the fourth hollowed knight has clambered onto the landing. It charges Lucerne with its sword raised, but the headsman deflects the attack with his crested shield, parrying the blade with ease. Pivoting, Lucerne drives the sharped end of his polearm through the silver knight's back, guiding the pointed spike through its armored torso. He wrenches the weapon from the hollow's undead flesh. Impossibly, the foe regains its momentum and, ignoring the gaping hole in its chest, slashes viciously. The tip of its longsword grazes Lucerne's forehead, sending a sharp spike of pain across his temple. Blinded by his own blood, the headsman makes a desperate spin attack with his polearm, striking the knight's chest injury with centrifugal force, ending it.

A final silver knight is all that stands between Lucerne and the city's apex. A song from the headsman's past echoes in his mind as he discards his polearm. Placing an axe in each hand, he runs for the narrow arch where the silver hollow stands waiting. The foe's lengthy spear is a poor match at this distance, and so the Balder headsman meets little opposition as he hacks away at the sentry's armor, leaving great rents and cuts in its plated mail. The hollow makes a wild lunge, its spear crackling with electric heat. Lucerne dives against the rafters, rises and spins on his heel, then pummels the knight's head in with his barbaric strength, alternating swings with each axe until the enemy falls like a winded horse. The silver knight raises its shield to the air, as if to honor its lord of sunlight in final prayer.  
YOU ASCENDED

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Black Blade  
Battle Axe  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Greatsword  
Greatclub  
Greataxe  
Claymore  
Butcher Knife  
Carthus Curved Sword  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Vordt's Great Hammer  
Dragonslayer's Axe  
Dragonslayer Greatbow  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Composite Bow  
Throwing Knife  
Lucerne  
Kukri


	10. Anor Londo

**Anor Londo**

Lucerne of Balder, a man of brutal instinct, finds himself enjoying views like these more and more in his old age. Standing on an icy skybridge at the heart of the Boreal Valley, he feels a peculiar sense of wellness in his heart. His eyes are transfixed to a sprawl of indigo peaks, crowned with the snows of eternal winter. There is something about these mountains that brings peace to the headsman's chaotic mind.

Anor Londo. Ages ago, when Lucerne lived with his father in the deep northern woods, stories were told of this mythical city. Stories of a land replete with the golden sorceries of lords, of breathtaking structures built to house the ancient gods, who towered over men. But these manors contain no glories of the past. These halls are tainted with the shambling ministers of the deep, and accursed spiders who descend from the eaves of dark rafters. Looking away from those gorgeous chill-wind peaks, the old Exile Knight resumes his hunt for Aldrich the Defiler, the third Lord of Cinder.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Washing Pole  
Yorshka's Spear  
Painting Guardian's Curved Sword  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Warpick  
Drang Twinspears  
Dragonslayer's Axe  
Battle Axe  
Lothric Knight Shield


	11. Irithyll Dungeon

**Irithyll Dungeon**

The boy's name was Errik Forray. It is a name that whispers in the headsman's mind as he wanders the lost halls of Irithyll Dungeon. It would always be the boy, whose face Lucerne cannot even remember. These prison walls, rank with poisoned ichor and pale blood, reach out to him in memory, conjuring images of the bleak cells beneath Balder Castle where Lucerne was once interred. His years of drifting as an Outrider Knight have taught him to revile that boy, to blame him for his misery, for if the child had simply stepped out of harm's way, none of this would have happened. And then, suddenly and without warning, an odd sensation tugs at the headsman's conscience, and he begins to ponder. What fear must the boy have felt in that brief moment before his death, when Lucerne, the terrifying headsman of ill renown, the monster of Balder, stood before him, with fury blazing in his eyes like a newly formed fire. This thought is a very different thing, and it shakes the headsman at his very core. And so he wonders: how could such a small fellow, who died so long ago, be recalled here in this dreaded pit of rats and corpses, after all those countless years? Worst of all, with each fresh death the old knight experiences, these thoughts become even stronger. An inner voice that speaks of torment, of genuine fear, and endless, endless grief.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Knight's Crossbow  
Exile Greatsword  
Lothric Knight Greatsword  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Warpick  
Murakumo  
Composite Bow  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Lothric Knight Shield  
Battle Axe  
Dragonslayer Greataxe  
Washing Pole


	12. The Reclusive Lord

**The Reclusive Lord of the Profaned Capital**

This is no ordinary ruin, Lucerne thinks as he makes his way past the small caches of charred treasure. A kaleidoscope of gold chalices, goblets, incense boxes with embedded crystals, candlesticks, silver decanters, and jewel-encrusted braziers. But even this horde of wealth pales in comparison to the huge piles of corpses left where they have fallen, scorched and malformed by the ancient calamity of the first flame's resurrection. Lucerne lifts his torch. The glow of his fire casts a red radiance on the blackened bodies. They have become part of the scenery now, melding into the walls in some places. Shadows of the burned men and women dance along the walls of mossy stonework, as if the dead had risen for one final dance in their hidden ossuary.

A sunken citadel of legend, the Profaned Capital. The dead entombed in these halls are the product of the flawed intentions of Yhorm the Giant, the old hero who destroyed everyone he swore to protect. The trauma has left him hollow and insane, and the years of the abyssal taint has turned this lord of cinder vicious and wild. Yhorm the Great, the Stalwart Shield, ruler of his own fallen country.

Lucerne sees the looming wall of fog at the end of the narrow hall, and knows that he has found his mark. He steps slowly through the unsettling mist.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Lucerne  
Battle Axe  
Washing Pole  
Eleonora  
Torch  
Storm Ruler  
Greatsword  
Exile Greatsword  
Carthus Curved Sword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Astora Greatsword  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Composite Bow  
Lothric Knight Shield


	13. Green Blossom

**Green Blossom**

Lucerne's journey through the underground labyrinth of Irithyll City has left him famished. He greets the shrine maiden and orders a breaded trencher stuffed with his favorite food, the delicious green blossom. Perusing her wares, the old headsman cranes his neck when something precious catches his eye: a rare, budding blossom. Truly a delicious delicacy. The taste must be wondrous! Lucerne licks his lips in anticipation, but a message freezes his hunger. The note is attached by a white thread to the delectable weed, and it reads: 'Good-bye, dear Grandmother. I will visit Grandfather, in the Pit of Hollows.'

The note smells faintly of moonflowers. This was left by Sirris of the Sunless Realms, without question.

Lucerne recalls the odd knight Hodrick, who was crushed by that fallen tree. Perhaps in another world this man still breathes, and his granddaughter seeks to finish him. Lucerne knows how dangerous this man is from their brief encounter in the hollowed-out cavern beneath the undead settlement. A dangerous man, Lucerne knows, for the dark knight's devious eyes had held the concealed weariness of an experienced fighter. This impulsive woman is going to get herself killed, Lucerne thinks, grimacing beneath his helm. The old headsman was never one to care for the plight of others, and Sirris could hardly be called a friend … and yet, picturing her dying at the hands of her hollowed grandfather troubles him more than he can say. Why do you care? the exile knight asks himself. She means nothing to you. But there's that odd, inner feeling again, nagging at Lucerne's conscience like a bothersome child pulling on his shirt.

"Hey, the undead don't eat," the old shrine maiden demurs as the headsman makes his departure with his stack of green blossoms. "You'll run my stock dry. Whoreson. What sense do the undead have these days, putting food in their mouths? Well what do I know, I suppose you haven't reached that size by stacking books in your mother's kitchen. Kek! Go on, you big brute. Go save your maiden … though if truth be told, I'd say she can hold her own with those miracles of hers."

Lucerne gives a nod of thank to the old woman, who seems so familiar. He makes his way to the fire, ready to travel once more to the old forgotten undead settlement.

-Weapons Wielded-  
Claymore  
Immolation Tinder  
Pickaxe  
Manserpant Hatchet  
Greatsword  
Blacksmith's Hammer  
Washing Pole  
Demon's Greataxe  
Old King's Great Hammer  
Black Knight Glaive  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Battle Axe


	14. Garden of Oceiros, Mad Draconic King

**Garden of Oceiros, Mad Draconic King**

And in the garden of the mad king there writhes a vile nest of snakes - the notorious Pus of Man - a great defilement of nature said to hail from the darkest depths of Lothric Castle. This fallen courtyard is more swamp than sanctuary now, a deep trench of rotted weeds and trampled corpses. Beyond the locked gates, through the toxic mire, and past the undead knights Lucerne discovers the old king shrieking with bestial rage within his tomb-like sanctuary. The fetid, blind creature, Ocerios the Mad, clutching in his claws the last remnant of his sanity.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Lothric Knight Greatsword  
Profaned Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Wolf Knight's Greatsword  
Pontiff Knight Curved Sword  
Exile Greatsword  
Carthus Curved Sword  
Great Club  
Battle Axe  
Greataxe  
Dragonslayer Axe  
Washing Pole  
Lucerne  
Composite Bow


	15. The Woman in the Red Mantle

**The Woman in the Red Mantle**

Lucerne lifts his torch. The glow of his fire guides him along a trail of narrow passageways, a watercourse flanked by graves. I've killed that blind old creature only to be turned around again, the headsman thinks, sighing mournfully. He continues through the trench of water, the leather lining of his boots uncomfortably sodden. The exile knight has traveled this path before. It is the same ashen graveyard of rot, dead interred in rows of eroded stone coffins. But the sky is a silhouette of its former self. The darkness covers the graveyard like an abyssal shroud, the lank grass and weeds wilted to dried husks, abandoned by the sun.

Past the champion's prison and beyond the hills where armored knights wander, Lucerne passes through the doorway to Firelink Shrine. The stone halls are empty within but for the lone shrine maiden sitting in her usual place. Seated in a chair of hardwood ash she waits. His torch casts a glow on the woman's faded red mantle, exposing her thin, wrinkled face. It is not the maiden from the shrine; rather, it is the shrewd witch who had lured Lucerne to this shattered realm of Lothric, what seemed an age ago.

"Is it time again?" The old seer lifts her head as strands of ashen hair fall across her eyes like ruined cobwebs, though she never blinks. The black sockets of her eyes are empty. Two hollowed husks, lidless, filled with tiny, cotton-like beads. Leaning forward for a closer look, Lucerne realizes that these are the eggs of spiders.

"It's me," speaks the headsman, averting his gaze from the horror wrought upon the woman's face. "You don't remember ..."

"I would remember a smell like that. Yes, the stench of death clinging to you like fabric on a wetted corpse." Her hands glide along the armrests of her chair, practiced, as if it were the only thing she could remember how to do. "You've come for guidance, I see?"

"Your guidance brought me here in the first place. Some time ago. You had eyes then, wench, but it was you. I never forget a face."

"Time," the crone murmurs, "is not your friend here, corpse. It has robbed you of your humanity. Soon it will rob you of your flesh, and once the bell tolls and the deep fathoms beckon, you will find your lungs no longer remember how to breathe, and will rot. Sand grains falling to the sound of the bell. Yes, the shreds of your sanity do indeed skitter along the infinite waves, poised to sink. Like little spiders. Drifting off to sea …"

She is lost, Lucerne thinks. There is nothing to be done for her. Frustrated, he turns to leave.

"The boy," whispers the enchantress, "is with you still."

A pounding in the headsman's chest keeps him in place. He grips the hickory handle of his double-bladed axe, spins on his heel and raises the weapon, prepping for the killing blow. But the axe blade never moves. It remains high above his head, a silent eidolon, its stillness suggesting a profound softness of the soul, a weakness come from years of meaningless deeds.

And so the headsman weeps, to the tune of a song. Long, wrenching sobs echoing inside a forgotten tomb.

He opens his mouth to speak, an apology caught on his lips. But the words never come, for there is no one to speak them to.

The old woman in the chair is gone.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Exile Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Pontiff Knight Curved Sword  
Dancer's Enchanted Swords  
Torch  
Battle Axe  
Dragonslayer Axe  
Partizan  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Wolf Knight's Greatsword  
Lothric Knight Greatsword  
Blacksmith's Hammer  
Black Knight Glaive  
Composite Bow  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Lothric Knight Shield


	16. Archdragon Peak

**Archdragon Peak**

In his hands the headsman holds the cold hilt of his axe, a huge cleaver with a blade curved like the shadowed sickle of the moon. The ruined link upon which he stands is one of many sandstone columns and buttresses attached to the southern facing wall of a grand draconic temple, skillfully erected on a toothed mountain's peak. The sky is crystalline blue and stretches for great leagues, over hills and gorges, snow-laden peaks, and rising vales of clouds. From the temple grounds below him waits an ancient wyvern, a dragonspawn grown to a monstrous size. The Balder headsman is loath to slay this beast, for he knows the dragons and their ilk are near extinct. A sad song rings in his heart and with it a memory resurfaces, suddenly and without warning, like a lurid nightmare conjured by the horrors of waking hours.

Three dragon eggs are settled on an overturned grindstone in a patch of green grass. A boy of six, Lucerne is captivated by the illustrious eggs gathered by his father. The draconic shells are hard and speckled, bronzed like fire's flame, and gleaming as opulent gems in capture of the sun.

Lucerne's father, a true man of the wild, has remained a recluse from the settlements surrounding their forest. He is known in those villages for his lust of drink, and many incidents of violence have painted him an exile of civilization.

But Father has remained oddly calm this day. Since scavenging the eggs from a nest of human bones set high in the hills, and since returning to their cabin of the vast northern woods, the man spoke always in a hurried whisper. "Son. Eat this. The blood will help you. Make you live forever. It is done this way." With a wooden mallet he smashes the bronze shell apart as if it were naught but a chicken's egg. A flood of filth and innards splatter across the carving stone from the blow. He scoops the cracked and dripping shell fragments into his big hands and takes the fluid into his mouth, swallowing the frothy yolk in quick, slurping gulps. His beard remains wet as he thrusts the hilt of his hammer into his son's shaking palms, placing a second egg before him.

The mallet is hard to lift, such is its weight. Under the watchful eye of his father he tips the egg onto its side and, without breathing, pounds it into mush. But as he fingers apart the shell to partake of its treasure the head of a misshapen dragon emerges, small and yet living, sliding from the ruins of its crushed shell. Unseeing the two humans with its undeveloped eyes, it cries out to a mother who isn't there, clawing at the grey clots of membranous fluid attached to its cherry-red wings.

Lucerne is in tears when his father orders him to kill this disgust. He strikes the boy in the head before snatching the messy infant in both hands. His father bites and tears with rotten teeth into the reptile's belly. The dragon shudders in his hands without making a sound and-

Lucerne is falling through mid-air, toppled from the bridge, his great headsman's axe steady in his hands. He regains his senses and aims the blade for the crux of the wyvern's head. The beast grants a terrible roar as the headsman's axe cleaves through scales and skull and brain …  
You Defeated

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Dragonslayer's Axe  
Yhorm's Great Machete  
Black Knight Glaive  
Astora Greatsword  
Lothric Knight Greatsword  
Exile Knight Greatsword  
Drakeblood Greatsword  
Composite Bow  
Battle Axe  
Greataxe  
Greatsword  
Man Serpent Hatchet  
Darkmoon Longbow  
Black Iron Greatshield  
Lothric Knight Shield  
Bonewheel Shield  
Dragon Tooth  
Dragonslayer Spear


	17. Lothric Castle

**Lothric Castle**

Haunted with grief, Lucerne approaches his mentor, Yuria of Londor, seeking guidance to ease his pain.

"My honorable Lord of Hollows," she speaks, "the answer is clear. Thou shalt will thyself into the arms of fate. Accept fire into thine heart, and welcome the torment it brings thee. It is … a most dangerous sacrifice. But through the usurpation of the old lord's flame, thou shall knowest the breed of man thou art become." The woman is taller than he, and she looks down upon him, her face concealed by the scrollwork hood of a darkly billed mask. "For ages thou hast served kings, armies, lords, and masters. But thine true destiny, my honorable Lord, is to rule. As an executioner thou hast festered fear and torment upon the land of the hollow. Transformed thou shalt become their guardian, their staunch defender, and their god." She raises her finger, a long crooked bone wrapped in a glove of black satin moleskin. "One task remains. To obtain the Kiln, thou must needs ascend the ruins of Lothric Castle. Defeat the false lords at its apex, and the path to monarchy shall open to thee."

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Spiked Mace  
Washing Pole  
Sniper Crossbow  
Composite Bow  
Darkmoon Longbow  
Chaos Blade  
Man Serpent Hatchet  
Black Knight Glaive  
Gundyr's Halberd  
Dragonslayer Spear  
Firebomb  
Black Firebomb  
Lightning Urn  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Carthus Curved Sword  
Carthus Curved Greatsword  
Lothric Knight Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Exile Greatsword  
Greataxe  
Greatlance  
Greatsword  
Great Club  
Battle Axe  
Four-Pronged Plow  
Sacred Bloom Shield  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Lothric Knight Shield  
Spirit Tree Crest Shield  
Black Iron Greatshield  
Irithyll Rapier  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Yhorm's Great Machete


	18. Lothric's Grand Annals of Magic

**Lothric's Grand Annals of Magic**

A library hides in the shadows beneath the grand cathedral of Lothric Castle. Those who wish to reach the fortress's highest tier must pass through its winding halls, where gatherings of hollowed scholars wander, their skull-lit flames bobbing in the dark like carriage lanterns passing gently through the night. Having cleared the lowest foyer of these creatures most foul, Lucerne approaches an alcove of defiled shelves, niches of darkwood lined with illuminated manuscripts, journals, and scrolls covered in the dust of years. The books are old, the spines riven and flecked with ichor, as if the words themselves had rotted the texts from the inside. An effluvium of rot seeps from these withered papers, a scent akin to a dying man's sickbed, the headsman thinks. He removes several from the shelf at random.

The books are as varied as they are numerous. A medical bulletin detailing plagues and the plants used to cure them rests aside a missive on the hunting of fire witches, while the shelf above contains a row of musty tomes directing the use of alchemical poultices. A book as large as the blade of Lucerne's axe contains an illustrated history of the Drangleic Kingdom, an ancient land washed to ruins by transcendental tides.

Perhaps most common are the tomes involving incantations and curses - unfurled scrolls of magic so old that the script is worn and near-indecipherable. Lucerne studies the pages of dark arcane magica and purifying spells, crystal sorceries, Londorian weapon enchants and vaporous poisons, soul-siphoning hexes, storms of fire and spears for slaying dragons, walls of light, and necromantic divinations. Indeed, the greatest riches are the documents detailing the application of enchanted pine resin to the steel of one's weapon, scrolls imbued with the amber of mystical Archtrees, a conjuring of fire, black magic, and the sorceries of lords. Magic as old as the world itself.

He rips the pages from their bindings and slides the rotting parchments into his sabretache. The headsman is no mage, but he knows the value of these lost arts, and hopes to use them in the fights to come. Heartened, Lucerne resumes his ascent of the castle, seeking to claim the ashes of one last lord of cinder.

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Dark Sword  
Caestus  
Battle Axe  
Dragonslayer's Axe  
Greatsword  
Dragon Crest Shield  
Chaos Blade  
Washing Pole  
Black Bow of Pharis  
Black Iron Greatshield  
Black Knight Greataxe  
Black Knight Greatsword  
Astora Greatsword  
Exile Greatsword  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Avelyn  
Witch's Locks  
Lightning Urn  
Yhorm's Great Machete  
Onikiri and Ubadachi  
Golden Wing Crest Shield  
Lothric Knight Shield  
Dragonslayer Spear  
Dragonslayer Greataxe  
Spiked Mace  
Greatsword  
Smough's Great Hammer  
Composite Bow  
Dragon Tooth  
Wolf Knight Greatsword  
Irithyll Straight Sword  
Greataxe  
Ricard's Rapier  
Claw


	19. The Wolf Knight

**The Wolf Knight**

Preparing for his final battle, the aged headsman returns to Farron Keep, seeking solitude for his meditation. It is cold and dim in the bleak antechamber. Glowing candles are lit upon the ledges of stone alcoves set against the walls; the fire casts the faintest light, falling upon Lucerne as he taps into the deep fathoms of awareness.

The headsman's eyes are closed, his form kneeling with two hands resting on the upright hilt of his axe. The silence of the crypt is unbroken, until his thoughts are taken from him by the resonation of a voice.

"Well, what will you do next? Going to just give up? That's what I did. I think I just lost my nerve for this kind of thing …"

The Balder headsman stands and turns on his heel, swinging his axe handle into the palm of his hand. The deserter Hawkwood stands in the center of the crypt with his greatsword hanging at his back. Lucerne had last seen the man on the final hill of the Archdragons, where they had fought side-by-side with the mutual goal of reaching the mountain's peak. But Hawkwood fell to the wave of serpents and Lucerne alone ascended, and he alone had obtained the lost power of dragons.

"Well, you slipped through the fissure too, did you?" Hawkwood's hand drifts over his right shoulder. He unsheathes his heavy steel blade while the fingers of his left hand wrap around the hilt of his parrying dagger. He steadies his sword in the air and points its tip toward the headsman's chest. "You came for Demon Souls? Or to save this land, and be remembered as a hero? Hahahahah …"

Behind his ragged mask, Lucerne grins. He searches through his sabretache and removes his Dragon Stone. The silver token of cracked dragonbone seems to shine through the gloom, captivating Hawkwood with its embryonic mystique.

"Ahh …" the crestfallen warrior can hardly contain the elation in his voice. " I should've known. Well, I've decided to stop running from my fate. Loathe me all you like, I shall take what makes you dragon."

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Greataxe  
Battle Axe  
Greatsword  
Wolf Knight's Greatsword  
Hollowslayer Greatsword  
Dragonslayer Greataxe  
Exile Greatsword


	20. The Old Song Ends

**The Old Song Ends  
(Final Chapter)**

An executioner learns never to fear the fate of their victims, to never question law and, above all else, to put on a good show. Such is the tune Lucerne has sung since his appointment as executioner for the Kingdom of Balder. A song sung for a mad king and echoed for leagues across an ill-fated realm.

A giant cloaked in a dark suit of armor stands waiting within the open-air kiln. It wields a Firelink Greatsword enwreathed in flames. Lucerne has traveled far through the ruined land of Lothric to face this final enemy, a vessel for souls granted life by the eternal augers of all Lords of Cinder.

The blade of the headsman's Black Knight Greataxe rakes across the spirit's living armor, cleaving the flesh beneath. Lucerne reels back, his blade knocked from his hand as a scream slips inside his mind, conjured as if in traumatic memory. It is the scream of the chosen undead, what one would call a 'past-linker', their soul encapsulated within this kiln of transcendent flame. It is the scream of a boy. Again and again, with each successful landing of the blade Lucerne – who is able to ignore the pain and terror of his victims no longer – buckles from their resounding cries, and is cut again by the searing flames of his enemy.

With sword and axe in either hand, the aged headsman's attacks are met with more blood-curdling screams. An upward thrust from his Washing Pole pierces the giant's ribbed chest plate, summoning the death rattle of mythic firelinkers, while an electrified blow from his Dragonslayer Greataxe produces naught but more agony for the headsman's mind. Lucerne throws his weight into his attacks, aiming the steel-cut edge of his Black Knight Glaive at weak points in the giant's armor. The foe unleashes a torrent of sorceries as Lucerne side-steppes and swings the heavy blade of his Claymore, cutting through the weak chain link at the giant's waist. Though the screams of torment are unending, the Soul of Cinder itself is relentless; each attack differs greatly from the next, empowered, it seems, with the learned experience of old masters. In desperation Lucerne wields his immense Machete of Yhorm, blocking the incoming attacks with its broadsided blade, but with each blow the headsman reels. He knows his strength is ending.

The old executioner, weary beyond his years, falls to his knees to gaze at the red sky as the giant brings its sword to Lucerne's neck, but it is Yuria of Londor who parries the killing blow with her darkdrift blade. She back-steps on the dark clouds at her heels, unleashing her black magic upon the living armor, miasmic spells rolling from her billowing sleeves like waves of sea at night.

Working together the two regain the field and focus their attacks, Lucerne with the ruthless blades of his weapons, and Yuria with her powerful black hexes. Before long the colossal foe falls to its knees and Lucerne rushes in with his Exile Greatsword to end it.

The giant transforms.

A risen figure radiates with the resurgence of Gwyn, the fabled Lord of Sunlight. Lightning cracks from its gauntleted hand, bolts arc through the air and slam into the ground, showering sparks of diffuse magic. With her reserve magica depleted, Yuria's hexshield is felled by a single swipe of the giant's firelink blade, and a follow-up strike cuts through the cloth of her billed mask and slices her throat. A discharge of raw energy fumes upward as the spirit of her form dissipates. Lucerne, planting his feet in the scorched earth, lifts his weapon and rushes forth with a roar, and the two warriors clash on a field alight with blood, sunlight, and flame.

The old song ended long ago, the day Lucerne of Balder usurped the flame from its mantle, shedding his old self to become Lord of Hollows, heralding a new age of man.

The End 

-WEAPONS WIELDED-  
Greatsword  
Battle Axe  
Claymore  
Washing Pole  
Dark Sword  
Greataxe  
Chaos Blade  
Sacred Bloom Shield  
Black Knight Greatsword  
Black Knight Glaive  
Black Knight Greataxe  
Lothric Knight Shield  
Storm Curved Sword  
Astora Greatsword  
Exile Greatsword  
Dragonslayer's Axe  
Dragonslayer Greataxe  
Yhorm's Great Machete


End file.
